Nintendo Wii Mini stripped of features to keep cost at $99

It was nearly one week ago when Nintendo announced the Wii Mini, to which the majority of gamers scratched their heads and exclaimed, “Why?!” as it strips away the Wii’s Internet connectivity, ability to play GameCube games and is SD card slot-less. It turns out all of those stripped features were necessary in order to keep the Wii Mini within its launch price point of $99.99, according to Nintendo of Canada’s communications director Matt Ryan.

“We want the system to be as affordable as possible to everybody, and the widest audience possible. By taking out functionality, that allows us to keep the cost down.”

As for why the Wii Mini is launching only in Canada at this point, Ryan admits the country is being used as a test market for Nintendo’s stripped down Wii Mini. Depending on the console’s success in Canada, it could make its way to other countries afterwards. Seeing how the Wii U currently retails for over $300 and the Wii retailing for around $150, we’re not entirely sure how the Wii Mini could be a success as it lacks a lot of what made the Wii so appealing to begin with.